Heel end of shoes and method of making the same



Sept. 16,1930. 11,775,647

HEEL END 0F sHoEs ANDMETHOD 0F MAKING THE SAME T, LUND Filed May 3, '1927 Patented Sept. 16, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oFF-ICE THOMAS LUND, OIE' BEVERLY, `MASSACHUSEI'JLTS, ASSIGNOR' TO UNITED SHOE MA.-

CHINERY CORPORATION, JERSEY or PATEnsoN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION oF NEW HEEL END OF SHOES AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Application filed May 3, 1927. serial No. 188,517.

This invention relates to shoes and methods employed intheir manufacture, and includes both an improved structure for the heel end of a shoe and a novel method of preparing the heel endV of ashoe for'the receptionV of a heel. i Y

Itis customary to -last the heel end ofa shoe upon a last having a convex heel plate and to attach an "outsole to the lasted shoe, the heel VendV of the` outsole being secured by meansv of nails or other suitable fasten` ings insertedin a row near its periphery. The seat thus produced for the reception of the heel isfdistinctly convex and it has heretofore been the practice to form in the attaching face of the heel, by gouging, molding or by the application of a rand, or by a combination of these operations, a concavity or so-called cup substantially oomplemental to the heell seat in shape, in order that` a tight edgejointbetween the heel and sole might be readily secured when the heel was applied to the shoe. The formation of this cup in the heel involves considerable expense and, there being no standard curvatureV for the heel seats of shoes, agiven heel may not lit properly shoes v`of the same'sizer made upon different lasts or of different materials. This constitutes a disadvantage in that attention has tobe paid to matching the cups of heels to the heel seats of the shoes upon which the heels'v are to beused. p f v Itis an object of thepresent invention to eliminate the expense and disadvantage incident to the Ause of cupped heels.

`With this object in view, the invention,.in one aspect, resides in an improved construction for'the heel end of a shoe having .an outsole, an insole and an upper, in Whicha flat heel seat surface is provided upon the outsole for the. reception vof a heel havinga fiat,ungouged, attaching face. Such a heel may be built up simply of. plain lifts, `requires no rand` attaching, cutting or other cup-forming operation, andv has,` ineifect," a

standardized attaching face applicable tothe heel seat of. anyshoe embodying the present invention .foi-*which the heel is ofsuitable size. The materials ofr the heel seat portion of the shoe are preferably heavily compressed, solidifiedl and molded into such formv that, while a fiat heel seat surface isprovided upon the outsole for the heel of the shoe, a somewhat concave surface is provided upon the insole inside of the shoe to receive the Wearers heel.

In another of its aspects theinvention comi seat material in such acondition that it may Y readily be disposed? as desired by the applicationof pressure. I prefer so todispose the heel seat materials that' the heel seat presents aflat outer faceand a concave face inside of the shoe and, tolthisend, have found it desirable togprovideinside of the shoe a f-orm having the Vcurvature which it is desired to impart tol-the heel scatto receive thewearers heel andan outside former having a flat face, and then to apply sufficient pressure to the shoe Ymaterials between said formers permanently tol compresssaid materials and form the inner and: outer faces thereof respectively to the desired shapes. All the spaces in the heel seat' materials are thus closed, and the overlasted vmargin ofthe upper is impressed somewhat into the inner vface ofthe outsole,

producing asolid heel seat which Vpreserves its ,formlpermanently,l vThesefand.;other. features and advantages ofl the'invention Willbe more readily understoodfrom the following detailed description ofone` illustrative example thereofvhenread in connection with. the accompanying drawings, in "which Y f Fig; lis a perspective view-,partly insection, of the' heel portion of a jlasted shoe;

Fig; 2 is a cross-section of the heel portion of the shoe after the outsole is laid, but before the heel seatis nailed; K Y

.Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig.` 2, showing ,Vico

the condition of the parts after the heel seat is nailed;

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the heel portion of the shoe under pressure between the heel seat compressing and molding forms; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view of the completed shoe with a heel attached.

In Fig. 1 there is shown the heel end of a shoe which has been lasted in the Vusual manner, 10 indicating the last and 12 the convex metal heel plate with which shoemaking lasts are provided. 14, 16 and 18 indicate respectively the upper, counter, and the lining materials of the shoe which, as illustrated, are lasted over the edges of an insole 2O and secured by lasting tacks 22, the points of which are usually clinched upon the metal heel plate 12 of the last.

While the overlasted upper, counter, and lining materials are wiped in smoothly about the margin of the heel seat, there is an excess of such materials in the interior portion of the heel seat, said materials often being in a more or less puclered condition, as shown particularly at 24 in Fig. 1. This mass of loose, wrinkled material is, as a whole, somewhat soft and spongy and contains a substantial amount of air space.

An outsole 26 is next laid upon the shoe, as shown in Fig. 2, and attached, by sewing or otherwise, throughout the shank and forepart. The heel end of the outsole is then attached to the shoe by nails 28 inserted in a row near its periphery, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The action of the nailing machine in driv ing the nails 28, which are called heel seat nails. tends to bend down the margin of the outsole and to produce a convex outer surface thereon. Provided no filler is used in the center, there may be a substantial air space between the outsole and insole, as shown at 30 in Fig. 3. The upper, counter,-and lining materials in the interior portion of the heel seat are also in a somewhat spongy condition, as explained above.

In order to prepare the heel end of the shoe for the reception of a heel, according to the present invention, the last 10 may be withdrawn and a form 32, having the curvature which it is desired to impart to that portion of the insole which is to receive the wearers heel, is placed in the shoe, as shown in Fig. 4. An outsidev former 34 having a flat face 36 is provided for engagement with the outer surface of the heel end of the outsole and heavy pressure is applied to the shoe materials by effecting relative approaching movement of the former 34 and the form 32 by means of any suitable powerful press.

The former 34 iiattens and maintains in a flat condition the outer face of the heel seat and the pressure employed is sufiicient to close all spaces, compress and mold all the heel seat materials into a solid structure which will preserve its form permanently.

The overlasted materials of the upper, counter and lining may be impressed into the inner face of the outsole and the outer face of the insole, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, sufficiently to compensate for any irregularities remaining after they have been compressed sufliciently to remove the sponginess hereto fore referred to, and the result is that all the heel seat materials are so disposed that the heel seat of the shoe presents a flat outer face and a concave face inside of the shoe.

The materials of the heel seat portion of the shoe are so heavily compressed and solidified that the outer face of the heel seat remains flat after the pressure is released and anyheel having a flat attaching face of suitable size and shape may be satisfactorily attached to the shoe. In Fig. 5 there is illustrated such a heel 3G attached by nails 38. The heel 36, as shown, consists of fourplain, flat lifts but this is merely illustrative and the heel might as well be a wooden heel with a fiat attaching face, a rubber heel base consisting of one or more plain, ungouged, unranded lifts or any other type of heel which might be suitable for the work in hand.V

The expense and disadvantage incident to the use of cupped heels is thus eliminated without incurring any loss or disadvantage in any respect.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is: f

l. A shoe having an outsole, an insole and an upper secured together, the upper having its margin located between the insole and outsole, the heel end of said outsole being compressed to present, without the use of a rand, a continuous flat outer surface for the reception of a heel having a flat attaching face, and thel insole being also compressed to present a concave surface to receive the wearers heel.

2. A shoe having an outsole, an insole and an upper secured together, the upper having its margin located between the insole and the outsole, the heel end of said outsole presenting a fiat unranded outer surface for the reception of a heel having a flat attaching face, and the heel end of said insole presenting inside the shoe a concave surface to receive the heel of the wearer, said outer flat and inner concave surfaces being producedl by compression of the material between them.

3. A shoe prepared for the reception of a heel having a flat, ungouged and unranded attaching face, said shoe having a leather outsole presenting a flat heel-seat surface to receive said heel, having a leather insole providinga concave surface inside the shoe to receive the heel of the wearersfoot, and having an upper and counter with their marginal portions' located between the insole and the outsole, the materials in the heel-seat portion of the shoe including the insole, counter,

upper and outsole being heavily compressed and solidified to close the space between the materials and to preserve permanently the interior concavity and the exterior latness of the heel-seat portion of the shoe.

4. That improvement in methods of making shoes which consists in lasting the margin of an upper and counter over the heel-seat portion of an insole, applying an outsole upon the overlasted margin of the upper and counter, and, by pressure applied to the inner face of the insole and to the outerface of the outsole, compressing said heel-seat materials to close all spaces between, them, to mold the outer face of the outsoleto form thereon a flat surface for the reception of a heel having a at attaching face and to mold the inner face of the insole to forma concavity for the reception of the Wearers heel.

5. The method of preparing the heel end of a shoe Which consists in lasting an upper, counter and lining over the margin of the heel end of an insole, laying an outsole upon the overlasted materials, maintaining the outer face of the outsole flat, and applying sufficient pressure to all the materials to close all spaces, compress the materials, impress the overlasted materials into the inner face of the outsole and form an inner eoncavity for the Wearers heel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

` THOMAS LUND. 

